The Institution Innovation Council of PiMSR in association with IWFCI – India National Chapter observed World Entrepreneurship Day on Wednesday, 21st August, 2024 with an inspiring online talk by Ms. Aruna Sampige Founder – Roots Reforms Initiatives. The objective of the webinar was to bring focus on the innumerable opportunities that social entrepreneurship offers to solve problems and make a positive change in society. Ms. Sampige spoke on the topic ‘Building a Social Enterprise’.
Aruna Sampige is a professional with over two decades of experience in building Entrepreneurship, Sustenance, and Livelihood programs focused on Rural Communities with special expertise and commitment toward Women Empowerment. An Award-winning leader, Aruna has been building and spearheading several transformative initiatives at the grassroots levels, through FINTECH products and services. Her strength lies in her ground-level knowledge of technology, and financial solutions, to build greater financial literacy, and access to products and services for women in rural segments. With a specialized and undeterred focus on Women’s Financial Empowerment, she has built several programs that have the capabilities to transform socio-economic dimensions through technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Her additional global stints in Australia have brought her hands-on experiences including Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy, Planning, Client Engagement, Stakeholder Management, Delivery, and more. She has won multiple awards from the government and chambers of commerce and other institutions for her path breaking initiatives. She recently won the IWFCI Women Entrepreneurs Award 2023.
Ms. Sampige began her session by sharing her journey into entrepreneurship and the formation of the Roots Reforms Initiative. She said that the main focus of this organisation was to work on bridging the gap in ‘access’ and ‘choices’ of financial services to women in the unreached segments. She spoke about the multiple challenges faced in changing mindset and empowering women to become business agents and work in the communities. She explained the impact that the Roots Initiative has made in terms of today having 100 MBC’s, supporting MSME’s with a team of 300 staff in 3 states and one lakh customers. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Celina Joy, Director Administration at IWFCI – India National Chapter and President of IIC at PiMSR said that it was wonderful to have Ms. Sampige speak to the students and was grateful for the collaboration between IWFCI and PiMSR to jointly host such events. She encouraged students to start thinking about entrepreneurship as the way forward and make a change in society. The question and answer round was very interactive with many students clearing their doubts on entrepreneurship. About 87 students, two faculty and 4 guests only attended the very enriching and motivating webinar. The benefit of the session was that students understood the opportunities and challenges in pursuing social entrepreneurship.
